It’s like a virus anyone who is touched by this rabid progressive agenda is infected. Symptoms are as follows :

Pompous Self Righteousness, paranoid hallucinations, acute terrorist psychosis, socialist delusions, Constitutional amnesia, severe episodes of do as I say not as I do , selective memory disorder, chronic hypocritical tendencies. acute bouts of boogieman (patriot) gona getcha fever, irrational fear of inanimate objects (especially those made out of dark metallic materials),episodes of robin hood delirium aggravated by a recurring case of over taxitis, compounded by religious delusions of the Savior and Heaven residing on Earth in the White House .

Precautions should be taken to avoid contact with anyone suspected of infection. Treatment requires quarantine and aggressive treatment with highly specialized anti-zombie, think for yourself, get a clue koolaid .

Sowwy , I couldn’t resist 😀

“There are, in increasingly frightening numbers, cells of angry men in the United States preparing for combat,” warns an unusually strident house editorial by the Los Angeles Times. “They are usually heavily armed, blinded by an intractable hatred, often motivated by religious zeal…”

Now let’s be honest. We all know that unless something goes extremely wrong we will not be seeing any zombies like the ones in the Hollywood Horror flicks B or otherwise. The CDC claims they are using the term tongue in cheek to get younger people interested in preparedness. Ok, I can deal with that. However, more than just the CDC are referring to zombies. So what exactly are they referring to if they are not talking about the brain eating , gnaw on your entrails kind of zombie?

Well in most instances they are referring to those who have laughed when approached with the concept of preparing for a potential disaster. Neighbors, Co- workers, family members, people that we run into in our everyday lives You know who they are , we have all run into them now and again. Some maybe more than others. Or the multitude that will become ill from lack of medicine, water, hygiene as well as accidents.

Now I really think that referring to these people as zombies is a bit over the top. However, I think we can agree that in a disaster scenario where despair , hunger or perhaps injury of themselves or a loved one will propel anyone of these individuals to an act of violence in the grips of fear .

All one need do is watch a video of the Black Friday Madness, or what happens during a blackout to understand what the potential for violence and lawlessness can be. Think Hurricane Katrina and the scenario in New Orleans. Think Hurricane Sandy and the multitude of people who were unprepared. How many resorted to dumpster diving because they had nothing to eat in their homes and there was nothing available in the surrounding area. If Occupy had not taken it upon themselves to start helping when FEMA and the government failed to do their job, what could have developed?

Now let’s go a bit further and imagine with all the people affected by Hurricane Sandy. What happens if there are neighbors that they are aware of had been storing food and water. The government is not helping. FEMA is not helping. Occupy had not been a factor. Their children are going hungry, they have elderly that must be cared for and they neither have food nor supplies. Now please understand I am an eternal optimist and I believe there are a lot of good people out there. However, if there is something life has taught me is that there are not so good people out there as well. This is what you must prepare for. The good people, the ones that understand that violence is not the answer will not be an issue.

What do you do about the ones who are?

Have you considered it?

Have you prepared?

Can you tell me aside from the fact that zombies are dead and out to eat you rather than your supplies what the difference would be? In either case they would threaten the survival of your loved ones and yourself. And , well there is always the possibility that the development of mutant and killer virus’ in government and military research labs should be a concern to everyone.

As we already know things will be difficult enough with the sheer amount of people that will be sickened and dying in a scenario such as this lasting an extended period of time especially in a collapse , as the following article details……

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Why there will be WAY more zombies than you anticipated

Electricity hasn’t been around all that long. For most of our history mankind has managed very well without it. Large numbers of people around the world still live without an electricity supply. If the grid goes down does it really mean the end of the human race?

On June 3rd I did a post about pandemics. I said in the introduction, that in my opinion only two things could be serious enough to put an end to humans. Pandemic and grid failure. Looking at the figures for the 1918-1920 pandemic, and using those percentages with current population, it seems I may have been wrong in my assumptions about pandemics.

So, onto grid failure, which to cover all the things that would be affected, and the speed at which they would be affected would need a large book, it is way too big a subject for an article. This article is based the things we have all heard, that 99% of the population of the United States would be dead within a year and that the world population will plummet. Let’s see.

I have chosen 2010 as the year all of the figures relate to, as that is the closest year that has a full set of statistics available. Figures are taken from World Health Organization records, love them or hate them they are very good pen pushers and compile statistics about anything and everything.

Okay, we all know that if the grid goes down, so does everything else in short order. Food supply chain, large scale agriculture,hospitals, traffic lights, everything that we regard as part of the very fabric of our lives. We have come to rely on electricity to such an extent that should it vanish from our lives it really would mean the end of the world as we know it. The question is though, would it be an extinction level event?

In 2010 there were 133,000,000 million births and 57,000,000 deaths from all causes. The WHO records the following for 2010:

These conditions are considered to be those that contribute most to the mean global death rates. Now I am not a statistician, and it is impossible to know the life expectancy of the people suffering from these conditions, so, for the purposes of the exercise I am going to assume they all die in the first year.

This would add 120,000,000 deaths to the 57,000,0000 ‘usual’ deaths giving us 177,000,000 deaths for the first year. On top of this there would be a rise in the murder rate, the death rate from heart attacks would soar, mainly due to unfit people having to engage in hard physical labor, and deaths from lack of medication and medical intervention would skyrocket, as would deaths from malnutrition and disease.

Then we have those in the Prepper and non Prepper community usually at odds with the way one or the other chooses to prepare . As well as their outlook. Not to mention those who outright ridicule and insult those who seriously prepare for a future unseen disaster scenario. Anyone who has seriously embarked on preparing and have tried to explain to family and friends why they should as well, have experienced this. So you are well aware of what I mean when I say this…..

Why everyone hates preppers

Uploaded on Sep 10, 2011

Why is there such a chasm between preppers and non-preppers? It’s because of ignorance on BOTH sides.

1. Preppers look down on non-preppers.
Many seem to be thinking that non-preppers are silly, ignorant little children.
2. Non-preppers think that preppers are insane.
They think that preppers are focused on ridiculous problems and wasting money on solutions that they will never use.

Both are wrong.

Most people ARE preppers.

You might be a prepper if:
*you check your car’s spare tire
*you keep bandaids in your house
*you are saving money for a rainy day
*you keep a can of Fix-a-flat in your car

Those are preps!

There are more preppers than either side is willing to admit.

WE aren’t arguing apples and oranges. We are arguing about how many apples we need. It’s a matter of scale.

It isn’t a matter of intelligence. It’s a matter of having different priorities.

Why most Doomsday preppers will die (part 1)

And then we have those unprepared neighbors that you spoke to early on and tried to get them to think seriously about prepping. All they would do was kid you about your preparing for the end of the world. Laugh a little at you , shake their heads and walk away always turning your concerned advice into jokes and an opportunity to poke fun at you. If not just outright call you nuts?

The following is an episode from the Twilight Zone. Yes it is just a show , it’s not real. However, if you watch it , you will see in the developing drama that everything that happens is indeed plausible. If you watch it you can see how a scenario like that can easily develop even among people you thought you knew well. One never knows and can never be sure how any one individual will react or behave in a situation such as this. Watch the videos and think about it….. I bet the possibility of it taking place won’t seem so crazy then…..

A Twilight Zone episode called “The Shelter” illustrates one scenario in being surrounded by people who are unprepared yet know you have been preparing and scoff at your efforts. I thought I would share this with everyone and thank DEMCAD for bringing it to my attention

Here we have a situation that is growing incrementally with every passing day in the US alone. We have seen the devastating circumstances in Greece, Spain and throughout the Middle East. Austerity, government corrupt exorbitant spending, rising food and energy prices, loss of jobs, corrupt banks and financial institutions, etc , etc , etc.

The number of homeless can no longer be ignored. For those who deny that there is a problem and that the economy is indeed recovering. Those who choose to believe the lies and the manipulated numbers for unemployment and job creation wake up and face reality. The homeless of today are working middle class that have lost their jobs, their homes . They live in tent cities, in their cars, in public parks when they can. They hide their homelessness and their need due to pride and those who refuse to see the truth accept the subterfuge because it is easier to lie to themselves than admit that it could very well happen to them.

Why do you lie to yourselves?

How long do you believe you can keep those blinkers on?

Do you really believe that ignoring reality will change it or make it go away?

The longer it is ignored the longer it goes unchallenged the worse it will get.

How many children have to be homeless for those of you in denial to get it ?

How many children in the US have to go hungry before you can deal with the truth of what is going on beneath your very nose?

I don’t know about you , but I see people now more than ever on the street asking for help because they are homeless and unemployed. Today a man with a sign stating that they were homeless and he had 3 children with him. Everyone looking the other way.

How can you live with yourself?

I gave what I had. Granted I don’t have much but no matter how bad off I am I have a roof over my head and even if it is peanut butter sandwiches I have food to eat even on the worst day. So many just passed by this man and his children not even giving them a passing glance. How sad , how very sad that we have turned into this kind of Nation.

Well I am here to disturb your little fantasy world. These are videos of the very real homeless situation in this country. If you know of anyone in denial please bring it to their attention. If you have heard but are not sure you believe , please take some time to watch and see the suffering , the need and the tragedy that has befallen these people. Understand that this could happen to anyone and it is not reason to look down nor feel ashamed.

As time goes by one must understand that this situation will continue to worsen, unless by some miracle the lunacy that has gripped the government and the financial world is dealt with. For those who are preppers I urge you to take this into account. I know things are tight for most, trust me I know this very well as I sometimes find it difficult to purchase staples for our everyday living . Much less items for storage. I think about this often and every time I buy an item for my storage I think of how it can be used or prepared to maximize the amount of people it can feed . Thereby , ensuring that I will be able to feed any additional people that may show up in need and hungry.

The government will not be helping, look at the victims of Hurricane Sandy. What kind of help did they receive? It will be up to us to take care of each other. Which means preparing to extend a hand to those who were unable or too poor to prepare.

“Hidden Homeless” Homeless in Rural America

Uploaded on May 5, 2010

This MC-TV documentary tells the story of one homeless person in rural Western Illinois. Thru her story we see the special challenges that confront those individuals who find themselves homeless in area with limited services.

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Homeless In America Families Living In Cars

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homeless in america…….part 1

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“Signs of The Time” a homeless documentary

Published on Jun 25, 2012

A feature documentary about homelessness in the Seattle and surrounding areas

I know there are quite a few people who have been preparing for quite sometime. Just as I know there are people who recently started or are starting now to prepare. Please, please take this to heart and understand what the possibilities are so that you can properly prepare and survive whatever may occur. Please know that I am not trying to belittle anyone. This has been on my mind for quite sometime and I simply did not know how to present it . Ready or not , presentable or not here it is . Please accept it in the spirit in which it has been given. A heartfelt wish that all who read this may prepare , be safe and help as many people as they are able.

Wars and Rumors of War

Military Maneuvers : Signs Of The Times – Zombies

SAN DIEGO — Forget the H1N1 pandemic. Could a future crisis arise from an outbreak of viruses that destroy brain cells and render people violently catatonic, like zombies?

The far-fetched scenario of a government grappling a zombie-like threat — think movies like “Night of the Living Dead” or, more comically, “Zombieland” — has captured the attention and imagination of Brad Barker, president of the security firm HALO Corp.

Next month, his outfit will incorporate— no kidding — zombies into a disaster-crisis scenario at the company’s annual Counter-Terrorism Summit in San Diego, a five-day event providing hands-on training, realistic demonstrations, lectures and classes geared to more than 1,000 military personnel, law enforcement officials, medical experts, and state and federal government workers.

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“Zombie Apocalypse”: worthwhile exercise or waste of time? Share your thoughts and send us a letter to the editor at navylet@navytimes.com

HALO will take over the 44-acre Paradise Point resort in the city’s popular Mission Bay and create a series of terrorist scenarios, with immersive Hollywood sets including a Middle Eastern village and a pirates’ haven. Retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, aformer CIA and National Security Agency director, and Mexico Interior Secretary Alejandro Poiré Romero will speak during the summit, which runs Oct. 30 to Nov. 2.

Barker calls the scenario “Zombie Apocalypse.” That phrase took off last year after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unveiled a campaign aimed at underscoring the importance of being prepared for major emergencies, natural disasters and pandemics.

In the CDC’s Preparedness 101 program, fictional zombies are used to drive home the message that Americans must be ready for any emergency — even the kind that, hypothetically, could stem from a brain-eating virus pandemic. Zombies also star in a 40-page comic book the CDC published, a tongue-in-cheek take on the serious scenario of a mutated virus that quickly spreads as the government dispatches its military to maintain order while infectious disease specialists scour for a vaccine.

Naturally, Navy Times got in on the fun, too, publishing a lighthearted “zombie war deployment guide” in the Aug. 1, 2011, issue. The story examined various tactics and gear that “experts” consider essential to wage a successful campaign on the undead.

“The Zombie Apocalypse is very whimsical,” Barker said, noting the setting is intended to add some levity to the more dire scenarios summit goers will encounter — incidents depicting active shooters inside a hospital or downed pilots trapped behind enemy lines, for instance. The pandemic medical nightmare is bound to be an attention-getter among people attending the summit.

“They are going to see a lot of stuff go down,” Barker added. “It is a Hollywood production.”

The zombies who roam the island will harass the troops, first-aid teams and medical responders participating, Barker said. HALO declined to detail the scenario just yet, saying only that the idea is to challenge authorities as they respond to extreme medical situations where people become crazed and violent, creating widespread fear and disorder.

For the record: Zombies are not real. However, earlier this year the word was used rather liberally to describe a rash of incidents involving cannibalistic attacks — the most high-profile of which, in late May, involved one man biting the flesh off another man’s face. Police suspect drugs, not a brain-eating virus, provoked the attack.

Beyond the zombies, the HALO event will weave in lessons learned from real disasters and terror events, including attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan and the deadly 2008 bombing in Mumbai, India. Cyber terrorism will have a leading role in sessions and courses throughout the summit, as well.

“The new battlefield is cyberspace, for sure,” Barker said.

That means that during the summit, participants’ cellphones and email accounts could be hacked, said Tim McAtee, a former Marine now working as HALO’s tactical operations director. Some, he said, might be rattled when they realize how easy it is for a hostile force to compromise their personal information and what the broader national-security implications of a cyber attack can be.

“The awareness,” he said, “is going to be monumental.”

HALO is composed of former military special operators as well as intelligence and national security experts. They train military units and federal and state agencies in security, counterterrorism, force protection, emergency response and disaster management.

To help pull off such an elaborate production, HALO has partnered with Strategic Operations Inc., which specializes in hyper-realistic tactical and combat trauma training that makes use of various special effects and actors performing as role-players.

The company has helped train thousands of sailors, soldiers and Marines in counterinsurgency missions, urban patrols, security operations and combat trauma over the past decade at its San Diego training studio and on military bases.

MUNNSVILLE, N.Y. (WKTV)– A Madison County woman is dead after being tasered by police Tuesday night, and information at the scene has led investigators to believe she was high on bath salts when she began beating her child.New York State Police say initial autopsy reports reveal that 35 year old Pamela McCarthy of Munnsville showed evidence of suffering from a heart attack two to three days prior to Wednesday’s autopsy. However, officials say there are no indications that the heart attack occurred during Tuesday night’s incident when police say they were forced to use a taser on her.

Authorities responded to McCarthy’s home on North Main Street in Munnsville on Tuesday night around 7:45 pm after receiving numerous reports from neighbors saying that the 35 year-old exited her apartment without any clothes on, holding her three year old child, then fell, falling on top of the child. The father of the child was able to remove the toddler from the area, and brought him to a grocery store across the street from the scene, authorities said. It was after this that authorities say McCarthy attempted to strangle one of her dogs.

When McCarthy physically resisted arrest and attempted to bite an officer, the officer then used pepper spray and needed assistance from another officer. When that had no effect, authorities say a taser was deployed on her. Shortly after that, State Police say McCarthy went into cardiac arrest and was transported to the Oneida Health Care Facility where she later died.

A day later, neighbors were still left wondering what caused McCarthy to act what they say was “out of the ordinary” for her.

“I mean, the strength that she had…she just wasn’t giving at all to the cops. It took two of them,” says Missy Love, who witnessed the incident.

While Love says she didn’t see McCarthy beat the child, police say other reports came in reporting her punching and choking the three year old and beginning to assault two neighbors. Authorities say McCarthy does have a history of using bath salts and has been arrested for endangering the welfare of a child previously.

The three year-old was transported to Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse for minor injuries and has since been released to family members.

State Police say McCarthy may have had a medical procedure last week involving her heart. However, they are continuing to investigate that and await toxicology reports.

Madison County District Attorney’s Office plans to present the case to a grand jury after the investigation is complete.

In this Jan. 26, 2011, photo containers of bath salts, a synthetic cocaine, sit on a counter at Hemp’s Above in Mechanicsburg, Pa. Synthetic substances that mimic marijuana, cocaine and other illegal drugs are making users across the nation seriously ill, causing seizures and hallucinations so intense that thousands of them seek help at emergency rooms. At the request of The Associated Press, the American Association of Poison Control Centers analyzed nationwide figures on calls related to synthetic drugs. The findings showed an alarming increase in the number of people seeking medical attention. (AP Photo/The Patriot-News, Chris Knight) MANDATORY CREDIT

UTICA (AP) — A synthetic drug known as “bath salts” is blamed for some bizarre behavior in central New York, including a woman’s alleged attempt to bite the face of a police officer.

Police in Utica were called to a city bar Saturday night to check out a woman described as emotionally disturbed. When an officer approached her, she lunged at him and tried to bite his face. Police say she screamed that she wanted to “kill someone and eat them.”

The woman was taken to a hospital for mental health evaluation.

Later, police were called to a home where a 20-year-old man was reported to have threatened to kill his mother and other family. Police found the man, Aubrey Vails, had ripped a door off its hinges and was punching a car in the driveway. He was charged with criminal mischief.

The mystery deepens over what led an attacker to chew off most of another man’s face as toxicology results are revealed.

1:40am UK, Thursday 28 June 2012

Police at the scene of the attack by Eugene, top left, on Ronald Poppo, 65Ronald Poppo survived the grisly attack

Marijuana was the only drug found in the body of a face-chewing attacker shot dead as he ate his homeless victim’s flesh.

Active chemicals from the drug were detected in Rudy Eugene’s system, but there was no sign of illegal or prescription drugs, or alcohol.

The 31-year-old’s girlfriend had previously said he must have been drugged without his knowledge before the attack on 65-year-old Ronald Poppo in Florida.

The results were released weeks after a Miami police union official speculated that Eugene’s bizarre behavior may have meant he was under the influence of “bath salts”, a synthetic stimulant which can cause aggression and hallucinations.

Another woman identifying herself as his girlfriend had suggested he might have been under the influence of a voodoo curse.

It remains unclear what led Eugene – said to be a religious man who read the Bible and the Koran – to take off all his clothes and carry out the grisly assault on Mr Poppo, who was also stripped naked and beaten.

The police officer who shot Eugene dead said he growled when he told him to stop before continuing to eat his victim.

Pictures released of Mr Poppo in hospital in the days after the attack showed the appalling extent of his injuries, with much of the skin on his face stripped away and his nose missing.

A man who was high on synthetic marijuana reportedly ate his family dog alive. Just as the “zombie apocalypse” hysteria began to subside, another man in a psychotic meltdown makes national news.

Waco Police Department

Michael Daniel, a Texas man from Waco, was arrested for eating his family’s nearly 40-pound pooch, on Monday. He faces felony animal cruelty charges, according to police.

Daniel allegedly was “on his hands and knees and chased a neighbor while barking and growling like a dog,” according to KWTZ.

After his deranged behavior frightened his neighbors, he turned to his black dog that was sitting on the porch and beat and strangled the dog. When he had sufficiently injured the pup, Daniel began to eat him.

Waco Police Sgt. Patrick Swanton told KWTZ that he “began to bite into the dog, ripping pieces of his flesh away.”

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By the time officers arrived at the scene Daniel had “blood and fur around his mouth,” Swanton explained to KXXV.

He allegedly pleaded with officers for them to use a stun gun on him so he could get off his “bad trip.”

Officer Swanson explained that the police did not fight or stun Daniel, but instead they took the blood-drenched man to the hospital, according to the Daily News.

The dog did not survive the brutal attack, KAIT reported.

Daniel explained to his neighbors that he was high on synthetic marijuana, sometimes called K-2, or Spice.

The psychoactive drug can actually be bought legally. It’s made up of natural herbs and then sprayed with chemicals. The drug gives the user a quick high, but it often triggers paranoia and anxiety.

The latest in a string of “zombie” like attacks happened in a Manatee County home Wednesday night after a man under the influence went into a fit of rage and bit a piece of someone’s arm off during a visit with his children.

Much like the Miami face-eating attack, 26-year-old Charles Baker got naked, ate human flesh and wouldn’t go down without a fight, according to a Manatee County Sheriff’s Office report.

Authorities say Baker went to his girlfriend’s home on 25th St in Palmetto to visit his kids at 10:15 p.m. They say he was high on an unknown substance when he knocked on the door, then barged in, began yelling and taking off his clothes.

He was screaming and wouldn’t calm down, then began throwing furniture around the home. Jeffery Blake, who lives in the home, attempted to restrain Baker, but the suspect bit him, taking a chunk of his flesh from his bicep. Blake, 48, was able to get Baker to the ground and kept him there until two deputies arrived.

When law enforcement came inside, Blake released Baker. Baker got up, but would not respond to deputies orders. The suspect instead faced the deputies, tensing his body, clenching his fists and screaming.

Baker, still naked, acted like he was going to rush the deputies, according to the report. Deputy Wildt deployed his an electronic control device after giving a verbal warning.

Baker fell to the ground, and then tried to get back up, so Deputy Wildt deployed the device again. Baker pulled the probes out, so deputy Blake deployed his electric shock device.

Those probes were also pulled out, and Deputy Wildt deployed a second cartridge. By this time, several other deputies had arrived on scene and were able to hold him down and handcuff him.

Baker was taken to Manatee Memorial Hospital for evaluation before being transported to the jail.

If you believe the lurid headlines, addicts across America are ingesting bath salts and transforming into crazed cannibals. This trend, like many, actually hit first in England, where a bath salt ban only increased the problem.

Drug scares, like the seasons, are cyclical. Here in the US, we had media firestorms over crack in the 80’s, meth in the 90’s, and prescription painkillers in the 00’s. Right on schedule, the latest demon drug that is supposedly tearing our society apart has entered stage left: bath salts.

Bath salts really just means a drug that is a combination of two stimulants—MDPV and mephedrone. Sold online and via headshops as a cheap, legal alternative to cocaine and ecstasy, mephedrone was first synthesized in 1929 while MDPV came along in 1969. Both were rediscovered in 2003 and they were perfect drugs for the Internet age—an ideal alternative to pricy illegal drugs that could be obtained legally with nothing more than a credit card and the click of a mouse.

The exact pharmacology of bath salts can vary, as compounds are constantly tweaked by chemists to stay one step ahead of the law. “Most of these substances seem to be cathinone derivatives, and as such are central nervous system stimulants that act through interruptions of dopamine, norepinephrine and—to a more limited extent—serotonin function,” explains Dr. Adi Jaffe, an addiction specialist at UCLA. While noting that actual research on these substances is in its early stages and reports are limited, Jaffe says that “at low to moderate doses the most common effects for MDPV can be thought of as meth-like: stimulation, euphoria and alertness. Mephedrone seems to act more like MDMA than meth.”

While the chemistry may change, one thing that has remained consistent is the ballooning popularity of this sector of the drug market.

“The government might claim that the ban was successful because mephedrone use and deaths have fallen but for me the question to ask is: what are users taking instead?”

After the explosion in use, the next phase of the drug scare comes in the form of demonization, and the authorities have certainly wasted no time in making some pretty wild allegations about the supposed effects of bath salts; recently we’ve heard that these drugs can causes cannibalism, a la the infamous Miami face-eater, pedophilia and even cross-dressing goat abuse.

The third part of any good drug scare happens when the press, despite a total lack of causal evidence, parrots these outlandish accusations. In the Miami cannibal case, the link between bath salts originated from a statement made by someone with no direct involvement with the case—the president of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police, Armando Aguilar—despite the fact that an autopsy and toxicology had yet to be performed on attacker Rudy Eugene.

In the case of Shane Shuyler, the Miami man accused of exposing himself to children while “allegedly” under the influence of bath salts, the evidence was no less hazy. The police said they found something that “appeared” to be bath salts in his wallet (i.e. an unidentified white powder). And then there was this strange quote from a detective giving evidence against Shuyler: “Upon talking to him, he made some statements to me which led me to believe that he was cooling off in a fountain by the tot-lot, because he was hot, which was consistent with ingesting bath salts.” The logic being that since bath salts cause users body temperatures to rise, then cooling off by a water fountain is evidence of bath salts use. Never mind the fact that the incident took place in June, in Miami, where the average temperature is 88.1 degrees.

After the hype comes the crackdown, which means that high-profile cases like these have created a push from both the media and law enforcement for a federal ban on the sale of bath salts.

Florida Republican Rep. Sandy Adams is one of the politicians who helped push the Combating Dangerous Synthetic Stimulants Act of 2011 through the House last December. The bill would federally ban MDPV and mephedrone, the two chemicals found in bath salts, as well as outlawing dozens of other chemicals found in synthetic drugs. The reasoning? “Looking at the Miami incident, we’ve seen people do some very bizarre acts on bath salts,” Adams told the U.S. News and World Report. If he gets his way, bath salts would be categorized alongside heroin and LSD.

So can bath salts really cause ordinary normal people to cannibalize strangers, expose themselves to children, or murder goats? And if they can, why on earth would anybody take them? A drug that has been described variously as “super powered LSD” and “PCP on crack” seems like a confusing proposition. So which is it?

“The reason for the contrasting descriptions is most likely the small but very significant difference in the specific chemicals involved,” says Dr. Jaffe. “Meth and ecstasy are very close chemical cousins but obviously cause very different effects for the user; the same is true here.”

To better get a handle of what is happening here in the US, I looked toward the United Kingdom, which has recently been through a similar cycle of shock horror media coverage of the “bath salt epidemic,” followed by a rush to ban. Bath salts were known under various aliases in the UK, including M-Kat, Meow-Meow and Bubbles, so for the sake of clarity, I’m going to use their chemical name of the most common compound: mephedrone.

“The issues in the US and UK are very similar, except that, as in many things, the US hype is even more over the top than that in the UK,” says Danny Kushlick, founder of the Transform Drug Policy Foundation, a charitable think tank that attempts to draw public attention to the fact that drug prohibition is the major cause of drug-related harm. “I mean, we never got so far as cannibalism.”

Yet at its height, the mephedrone scare in the UK was still pretty lurid; according to some of the coverage, it was lin

World Health Organization is on high alert about new Ugandan outbreak, cause is not fully known

Updated:Added commentary from Jason Oh, a Johns Hopkins Univ. public health studies student who is currently in Uganda studying the disease post-conflict transformation. Mr. Oh described some of the symptoms in more detail, and offered different perspective from the CNN reporters’ experience.

CNN has also reworded their report to tone down the suggestion of violent behavior.

It’s called the “nodding disease” and it’s a baffling illness that has struck thousands of children in northern Uganda. The illness brings on seizures, violent behavior in some (debated), personality changes, and a host of other unusual symptoms.

I. Mental Degradation: Child Victims Have no Cure, no Future

Grace Lagat, a northern Uganda native, is mother of two children — Pauline Oto and Thomas — both of whom are victims of the disease. For their safety, when she leaves the house, she now ties them up, using fabric like handcuffs. She recalls, “When I am going to the garden, I tie them with cloth. If I don’t tie them I come back and find that they have disappeared.”

Reportedly the children gnaw at their fabric restraints, like a rabid animals — or “zombies” of popular fiction — in an attempt to escape. (This is based on CNN‘s commentary.)

(Jason Oh points out that the restraints are intended to protect the chidlren from harm, and from starting fires.)

The effort to restrain the children is not unwarranted. In one of the most bizarre symptoms of this tragic illness, children with the disease are reportedly setting fire to buildings in their communities. Coupled with the aimless wandering this disease provokes in victims, this is a deadly combination. More than 200 people have been killed in fires believed to be set by the zombified children.

(According to Jason Oh, there have been few reports of violent behavior. It is unclear where our primary source CNN received this information, though a reader suggested that a CDC report indicated that 10 to 15 percent of children were found to exhibit increased aggression. We were unable to locate this report.)

The disease is not new. It popped up in the 1960s in Sudan. From there it slowly spread to Libya and Tanzania.

The Uganda infections, though, are a new outbreak — a troubling sign. The jump into a new region could be pure coincidence, or it could indicate the disease has become more virulent or found a new transmissions vector.

Infected children typically have regular seizures, which are proceeded by a repetitive nodding of the head. This characteristic symptom has given rise to the unofficial title for the malady.

II. World Medical Organizations Racing for a Cure

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) have been tracking the spread of this frightening ailment. Dr. Joaquin Saweka says the scene in Uganda is horrific, stating, “It was quite desperate, I can tell you. Imagine being surrounded by 26 children and 12 of them showing signs of this. The attitude was to quickly find a solution to the problem.”

Yet the WHO and CDC are not fully sure what is causing the illness, which cripples children and turns them into mindless, violence-prone zombies. The best clue they have is that most of the cases occur in regions inhabited by “Black flies”, which carry the parasitic worm Onchocerca Volvulus. That worm is responsible for another dangerous disease dubbed “river blindness”, the world’s second leading cause of infectious blindness.

(Jason Oh states that CNN misunderstood this reference. While it’s true the cause of the disease is unknown and the literature papers on the topic indicate an overlap with part of the river blindness afflicted regions, but he feels this reference was only intended to “state the obvious”, not hypothesize causation.)

The illness may have something to do with Black flies (left, center) and their parasitic worm (right). [Image Source: WHO (left), Wikimedia Commons (center), Human Healths (right)]

However 7 percent of infected children live in regions not inhabited by the Black fly, so a link is speculative at best.

Children with the disease also frequently exhibit vitamin B6 deficiency, leading medical experts to believe that the disease may be nutrition related. However, infections by microbes, parasites, fungi, or even fungi/microbes carried by a parasitic host, can all lead to nutritional deficiencies.

Dr. Scott Dowell, director of global disease detection and emergency response at CDC, says the race is on to determine the cause and a cure. He states, “At first we cast the net wide. We ruled out three dozen potential causes and we are working on a handful of probabilities. We know from past experience an unknown disease could end up having more global implications.”

In the current cases children as old as 19 have been found to be stricken, with the majority of the worst symptoms being spread over the 3-11 age range.

One mystery surrounding the disease is the seizures themselves. While typically seizures are either randomly occurring or follow some singular cue/pattern, the nodding disease seems to have multiple triggers, including eating new foods, changing weather, and other changes.

(Jason Oh says CNN reporters messed up and that it’s familiar foods trigger the seizures, not unfamiliar ones like bars of chocolate.)

Seizure often leave the children soiled with urine and drooling. Local nurses are afraid to touch the infected. States local nurse Elupe Petua, “I feel, because I don’t know what causes it, I don’t even know how it transmits, when I touch them I feel that I can also get the infection because I don’t know what causes it.”

III. Medication is Ineffective

Anti-epileptic medication slows the onset of symptoms, but is unable to stop the progression of the disease. The seizures eventually leave many children unable to walk, only able to drag their bodies along the ground as flies tried to attack them.

The current treatment approach of anti-epileptics has done little to halt the illness.
[Image Souce: CNN]

(Jason Oh says that the diseases offers a tragic, slow mental degradation, taking years to develop. Affected children, embarassed about the nodding and afraid of infecting classmates often drop out of school, while still mentally capable. Eventually the seizures lead to the more severe symptoms mentioned in the intro — loss of speech, partial paralysis, personality changes, and — according to CNN — violence.)

The government of Uganda has come under criticism for not being vocal enough in addressing the tragedy and demanding foreign aid/research expertise. Local politicians have taken to transporting victims from affected villages by bus to city hospitals in order to force the issue into the eyes of the more affluent city-dwellers.

(Jason Oh adds some perspective writing, “Uganda had asked the CDC to investigate in 2009. Most of the backlash against the government is because the Ministry of Health has been slow to use emergency funds that the Parliament made available. They’ve established many local centers for Nodding Syndrome, but they are under-staffed and under-equipped. The kids are being referred to and transported to Mulago Hospital (famous for being in The Last King of Scotland) so the top doctors at Makerere University and in Kampala can monitor them.”)

The issue is yet another woe for a nation in which the impoverished majority was terrorized for years by warlord Jospeph Kony’s militia, dubbed the “Lord’s Resistance Army.”

Mr. Kony is currently wanted by the International Criminal Court on multiple counts of violent war crimes, including rape and murder. These offenses are punishable by death (life in prison), if he is ever brought to trial. (Jason Oh clarified that under the new Rome Statute of 2002, the ICC is not allowed to seek the death penalty, even in murder cases.)

IV. What if the “Nodding Disease” Found a Way to Reach the U.S.?

Dr. Saweka says that for all the hand-waving by the government about using better anti-epileptics and offering more funding, he appreciates and shares in the villagers frustration. He states, “People complain that it looks like the lives in developing countries have less value than the lives in the western countries. When you know the root cause, you address the cure. Now you are just relieving the symptoms. We don’t expect to cure anybody.”

Ugandans, grief stricken, feel somewhat abandoned by the government and the wealthy developed “First World”. [Image Source: CNN]

While the “First World” may not be focused on — or even aware of — the zombification that is leaving children in these African nations violent (debated), crippled shells of their former selves — tied like dogs — it is an issue that must be addressed. After all, viruses, bacteria, parasites thanks to the wonders of evolution can mutate and adapt to new environments and new transmission vectors.

Thus this zombie virus While reports of violence or strange behavior — like biting — are disputed, the disease is very serious. It may seem like a foreign issue to regions like the U.S. and EU who are struggling with their own financial crisises. But if the illness finds a way to broaden its spread, this outbreak could cripple children across the globe.

(A word of clarification… CNN has reworded their report slightly to tone down the suggestion of violent behavior. The reports of fire starting stand, but in the new context it’s possible these were just innocent accidents triggered by the childrens’ loss of coordination.

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